Kent opposed to MMBC program

The District of Kent council continued to voice disappointment with the impending Multi Material BC Program, and is one of several small communities that are doing so.

Coun. Lorne Fisher moved that they write a letter to Minister of Enviroment, Mary Polak, repeating their concerns that the MMBC program will not work as proposed.

“The more we become familiar with it, the less workable it is,” he said.

When the MMBC program was first announced, they fired off a similar letter. But that seemed to be ignored, Fisher said.

The DOK will be joining the Village of Valemount, which has written to Polak to explain the hardship the MMBC places on small towns with small tax bases.

“The program appears to be designed for large municipalities of at least 100,000 or more,” Valemount mayor Andru McCracken wrote. More than half of the municipalities in B.C. have a population of less than 5,000. The District sits just over 5,000, including the prison population.

“Meeting the requirements of the RFP of MMBC is simply not attainable,” McCracken wrote. High penalties are in place through MMBC for contamination targets, which are set at 3%. MMBC also sets out that call centres need to be in place from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., outside of the hours set out for most small municipalities, and requires collection vehicles to be five years old or newer.

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